1929-11-28 RED WARSHIPS

London Times, 28 November 1929, p. 13b: RED WARSHIPS” CRUISE (From our correspondent). Riga, Nov. 26. Muklevich, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, has published a statement regarding Admiral Haller’s Atlantic and Mediterranean cruise, which began when the battleship Paris Commune and the cruiser Profintern left Kronstadt on Saturday.

Muklevich explains that the cruise has no political purpose, but is purely for training. Admiral Haller hopes to enter the Mediterranean and visit Italian ports, but the most extensive exercises will be in the Atlantic. The exercises have proved necessary, as this year, owing to lack of training, two destroyers came into collision in September, the crews proving incapable during rough weather. Moreover, climatic conditions in the Baltic make the navigable season there very short.

Admiral Haller, a son of the Tsarist General Von Haller, was a naval captain before the Revolution.